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Fall 2014 -- POL160A: The War on Global Terrorism Monday and Wednesday from 3:30-4:50
Jytte KlausenLaurence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation Office: TBAContact: [email protected]; Office hours: TBA
Peer TA’s: Katy Dowling: [email protected] Rutkowska: [email protected]
[DRAFT SYLLABUS- MINOR CHANGES TO SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS MAYBE MADE BEFORE THE START OF TERM]
No prerequisites. The class is open to all students in all majors but is particularly intended for juniors and seniors. The class makes extensive use of audio-visual material and original sources
Fulfills the following requirements:IGS: Governance, Conflict and ResponsibilityIMES: Elective Course in Islamic and Middle Eastern StudiesSS: School of Social Science Distribution Requirement
Al Qaeda’s attacks against US targets on September 11, 2001, marked a turning point in American history. Nearly 3,000 people died that day. The fight against Al Qaeda motivated two wars: the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in cooperation with NATO allies and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since then, 7,000 US and NATO soldiers and an unknown number of civilians have died as casualties of war against Al Qaeda and its various allies. “Homegrown” terrorism linked to Al Qaeda continues to present a threat here at home and in Europe, and has stirred a backlash against Muslims.
Why was 9/11 so important to us? What does Al Qaeda want? Are we winning, and at what costs are we continuing the fight against violent Islamist extremism? Is Al Qaeda different from other terrorist movements and how big is the threat to our security today and the near future? And why do American citizens (and other Westerners) join Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-inspired groups, and continue to do so to this day? Those are the questions addressed in the course.
Is terrorism different from mass shootings? The United Nations and international law define terrorism as violent acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public (1994 UN General Assembly Resolution 49/60). Terrorism is political and aims to delegitimize democratic governance. Terrorist acts are repeated usually following a script defined by ideology.
Islamist extremism in Al Qaeda’s mold has emerged over the past decades as the deadliest of all modern terrorist movements.
Two guest speakers are scheduled (dates may change):
Monday 10/27—Malise Ruthven is a journalist, teacher, and writer for The New York Review of Books with a PhD from Cambridge University. He will speak about his work on religion and fundamentalism.
Monday 11/10—Guermantes Lailari, Lt. Colonel, USAF (ret.) will speak about counter-terrorism and technology with special focus on hijackings and the use of an airplane as a weapon.
Cell phone use and laptops: Students are not allowed the use of cell phones or laptops unless a student’s special circumstances have been cleared ahead of time.
Course content and learning goals: Students are asked to approach the 9/11 attacks and our responses to the attacks as an instance in contemporary history, and to look at the facts unflinchingly, weigh the evidence, and trace the consequences. Students will be taught to use content analysis to critically analyze primary sources ranging from jihadist videos and Al Qaeda’s statements to official statements by the U.S. government and Guantanamo Bay case files.
The course is taught as a lecture course. The lectures are organized around five components:● What happened on 9/11?● A short history of Al Qaeda and its ideology● Theories of why political groups use terrorism and the role of suicide martyrdom in Al Qaeda’s
strategy● Counter-terrorism policies and the costs to civil liberties and our economy of fighting Al Qaeda● The insurgency in Syria and Iraq, and the future of Al Qaeda.
The class will deepen students’ understanding of the 9/11 attacks, why the happened and how the United States was vulnerable to a massive terrorist attack. Students will learn about the United States’ 20-year long fight against Al Qaeda and the profound changes the fight has wrought to our legal and political system, and to our society. They will also learn about the core doctrines and strategies of Al Qaeda and the Jihadist movement, and how the Syrian and Iraqi insurgency has revived the threat to domestic security from Al Qaeda-inspired terrorism.
Course requirements: Students will be graded based upon a midterm exam (25%), research paper (25%), and final exam (50%). You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on academic integrity (see http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/sdc/ai). Any suspected instances of alleged dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Development and Conduct. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in sanctions including but not limited to, failing grades being issued, educational programs, and suspension.
If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as possible. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x6-3470 or [email protected].) Letters of accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
Readings: Required reading available in the campus bookstore:
Al Qaeda Reader by Raymond Ibrahim. Broadway Books. Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror by Mary Habeck, Yale University
Press. The 9/11 Commission Report. The Attack from Planning to Aftermath. With new afterword by
Philip Zelikow. New York: Norton, 2011.
Other required and recommended reading assignments are listed by date in the class schedule and posted on LATTE. Students are strongly advised to read some or all of the recommended readings for in-depth analysis and historical background.
Class Schedule
I. What happened on September 11, 2001?
September
Wednesday 09/03- Introduction Presentation of syllabus and class expectations. Overview: The 9/11 attacks as a milestone in American history. The creation of The 9/11 Commission. Al Qaeda after Bin Laden. Approaching the 9/11 attacks and US responses as contemporary history.
Required reading: John Tosh, The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods, and New Directions in the Study of Modern
History. London: Longman, 2000, 3rd ed., chapter 4. (On LATTE) Philip Zelikow, “Afterword: The Twilight War,” in The 9/11 Commission Report.
Monday 09/08- What happened on 9/11, 2001? A reconstruction of the day as it unfolded. Who were the bombers?
Required reading: Chapter 1, "We Have Some Planes" and Chapter 2, “The Foundation of the New terrorism”, in
The 9/11 Commission Report. Bin Laden’s 1996 and 1998 fatwas, see full text versions, (the fatwas are also available in The Al
Qaeda Reader) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1998.html
Recommended: Browse CNNs 9/11 video archive, see http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/day.video.09.html OR by The New York Times, see http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html?scp=1&sq=%229/11%22 records eyewitness accounts&st=cse
Wednesday 09/10- The Fog of WarWho was in control? Federal agencies and the White House respond to the attack. Lessons about preparedness and counter-terrorism. Conspiracy theories.
Required reading: Chapter 10, “Wartime” in The 9/11 Commission Report. “About That Day” by Rhett Miller, The Atlantic, September 2011.
Recommended: National Geographic’s Interview with George W. Bush, http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/george-w-bush-the-9-11-interview/
Monday 09/15- Federal agencies and the White House respond to the attackLessons drawn about preparedness and counter-terrorism. The USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
Act) of 2001 took effect six weeks after the 9/11 attacks and was renewed in 2011. How did the Act change domestic intelligence and counter-terrorism enforcement? How do we know counter-terrorism policies work?
Required reading: Chapter 9, “Heroism and Horror”, and Chapter 8, “The System Was Blinking Red” in The 9/11
Commission Report.
Recommended: National Geographic series. (Will be made available on LATTE.)
Wednesday 09/17- A Short History of the War on Terror: 2001-2003 Time lines and justifications for going to war in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2005). The Bush Doctrine. The creation of Guantanamo Bay and the “Torture Memo”.
Required reading: Gordon, Philip H. "The End of the Bush Revolution." Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug2006, Vol. 85
Issue 4, pp. 75-86. Mazarr, Michael J. "George W. Bush, Idealist." International Affairs 79, no. 3, May 2003, pp.
503-522. Nicholas Lemann, “The Options.” The New Yorker. Oct 21, 2001.
Recommended:The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, September 2002. (http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/nss2.html)
II. Al Qaeda Before and After 9/11
Monday 09/22- AQ before 9/11 Who was Osama bin Laden? Al Qaeda’s leadership and organization. The merger of Al Qaeda and other expelled Islamist extremist groups 1998-2001. Advance warnings: The 1993 WTC attack and the 1998 embassy bombings – and Al Qaeda’s failed Millennium bombings.
Required reading: Chapter 2. “The Foundation of the New Terrorism” and Chapter 4. “Responses to Al Qaeda’s
Initial Assaults” [skim] in The 9/11 Commission Report. Reuel Marc Gerecht. “The Gospel According to Osama Bin Laden.” The Atlantic, January 2002
Volume 289, No. 1; 46-48. Al Qaeda Reader. Ayman al Zawahiri Chapter, pg 175.
Recommended: Biography of OBL (online) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html
Wednesday 09/24- AQ before 9/11This class will focus on Al Qaeda in the 1990’s. Specifically, the 1993 World Trade Center Attacks and the attacks on the American Embassy in East Africa. We will also talk about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the terrorist mastermind.
Required reading: Chapter 3. “Counterterrorism Evolves” [skim] and Chapter 5. “Al Qaeda aims at the American
Homeland” in The 9/11 Commission Report. “Terrorism's CEO.” Interview by Bruce Hoffman of Peter Bergen. The Atlantic. January 9, 2002.
Recommended: Browse the WikiLeaks Guantanamo Bay files, for KSM see http://wikileaks.org/gitmo/prisoner/10024.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_al-Qaeda_attacks
Monday 09/29- Al Qaeda in the US- A history of Al Qaeda attacks against the United States. The 9/11 attackers network of contacts in Europe and in the United States. Two decades of Al Qaeda’s changing operational methods. Al Qaeda before 9/11 versus Al Qaeda after 9/11.
Required reading: Chapter 6. “From Threat to Threat” and Chapter 7. “The Attack Looms” in The 9/11 Commission
Report. Peter Bergen, Bruce Hoffman and Katherine Tiedemann. “Assessing the Jihadist Terrorist Threat
to America and American Interests.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Vol. 34 Issue 2 2011, pp. 65-101.
Recommended: The FBI: Ten Years of Major Terrorism Preventions, see: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/ten-years-after-the-fbi-since-9-11/investigative-accomplishments/terrorism-investigations/
Al Qaeda’s Getting Weaker—but terrorism is getting worse, see http://www.vox.com/2014/5/1/5668650/state-department-terrorism-report
October
Wednesday 10/01-Homegrown Terrorism: Al Qaeda after 9/11 In 2004 and 2005, Al Qaeda struck the transportation systems in Madrid and London, killing hundreds of people in the two cites and injuring thousands. The train bombings heralded what became known as “homegrown” terrorism. But how “homegrown” were the attacks?
Required reading: Granta Article- THIS NEEDS SPECIFICS Eliane Tschaen Barbieri and Jytte Klausen, “Al Qaeda’s London Branch: Patterns of Domestic
and Transnational Network Integration,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 35:411–431, 2012.
Recommended: NEED RECOMMENDED READING HERE
Monday 10/06- CONT. HOMEGROWN..How do we explain why Westerners become Islamists terrorists? Socio-economic vs. psycho-social explanations of radicalization and extremism and preventive policies.
Required reading: Robert A. Leiken, “Europe’s Angry Muslims.” Foreign Policy 2005, 84, no. 4 (July/August), pp.
120-135. Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt, Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat. The
NYPD Intelligence Division, n.d. [ca. 2010].
Recommended:
Bruce Hoffman, “The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism,” Foreign Affairs, 87, 3, 2008, pp. 133-138, and Marc Sageman, "The Reality of Grass-Roots Terrorism," Foreign Affairs, 87, no. 4 (July 2008): 165-166.
Wednesday 10/08- Q & A: Review SessionHalf the class will be used to screen: Inside 9/11. War on America.Video produced by Towers Productions Inc. for National Geographic Channel. 2005.
Wednesday 10/15- Midterm Exam
Monday 10/20- Core Concepts of Violent Extremist Islamism Are Jihadists religious fanatics or fanatical revolutionaries? Doctrines and disputed concepts in Salafism and Jihadism.
Required reading: Brachman, Jarret. Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice. New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 22-51,
pp.59-74. Hegghammer, Thomas. "Jihadi-Salafis or Revolutionaries? On Religion and Politics in the Study
of Militant Islam." in Global Salafism, (ed.) Roel Meijer. Columbia University Press: 2009.
Recommended: "Why we are fighting you", Full Text, see http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6537.htm
Wednesday 10/22—The Strategic Logic of Suicide Bombings vs. the Myth of MartyrdomScripture and the democratization of martyrdom. The Shia-Sunni divide and extremist influences. The psychology of the suicide bomber.
Required reading: Assaf Moghadam, “Motives for Martyrdom: Al-Qaida, Salafi Jihad, and the Spread of Suicide
Attacks.” International Security, Volume 33, Issue 3 Winter 2008/09, pp. 46-78. Mia Bloom and James A. Piazza, “Death becomes her: women, occupation, and terrorist
mobilization.: Torture and the War on Terror”, PS: Political Science & Politics ,July 2010, v43 i3, pp. 445-450.
Mia Bloom, “Death becomes her: the changing nature of women's role in terror.” Georgetown journal of international Affairs, 2010, v11, p. 91. (NOTE, the argument shifts in the two assigned reading despite the titles)
Recommended: Robert A. Pape, "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” American Political Science Review,
vol. 97, no. 3 August 2003, pp. 343-361. Pedahzur, Ami and Perliger, Arie. “The Changing Nature of Suicide Attacks: A Social Network
Perspective.” Social Forces, Jun 2006, Vol. 84 Issue 4, pp. 1987-2008.
Monday 10/27- GUEST SPEAKER: Malise Ruthven, Ph.D.
MALISE RUTHEN is a contributor to The New York Review of Books and the author of Islam: A Very Short Introduction, Islam in the World: The Divine Supermarket (a study of Christian fundamentalism), A Fury for God: The Islamist Attack on America, A Satanic Affair: Salman Rushdie and the Wrath of Islam, and several other books. His latest book is Encounters with Islam: On Religion, Politics and Modernity.
Required Reading: Malise Ruthven, “The Map ISIS Hates,” The New York Review of Books blog, June 25. (http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/jun/25/map-isis-hates/)Malise Ruthven, Review Essay: “Terror: The Hidden Source. The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam by Akbar Ahmed.” The New York Review of Books, OCTOBER 24, 2013.
III. Perspective on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
Wednesday 10/29-Defining Terrorism/Introducing the Research ProjectHistorical perspectives on terrorism and causes of political violence. Is Al Qaeda a Muslim version of the Irish Republican Army?
Required reading: Alex P. Schmid, “Root Causes of Terrorism. Some Conceptual Notes, a Set of Indicators, and a
Model,” Democracy and Security, vol. 1, no. 2, 2005, pp. 127-136. Louise Richardson, What Terrorists Want, New York: Random House, 2007. Chapters 1-3, pp. 3-
37.
Recommended:
November
Monday 11/03- Global vs. Local in Counter Terrorism How should Western governments respond to asymmetric warfare and transnational terrorist networks? Displacing Al Qaeda from Afghanistan allowed the group to set up bases in Pakistan and spread to other countries. Does military intervention work?
Required reading: Chapter 12.”What to Do? A Global Strategy”, in The 9/11 Commission Report. Peter Evans, “Fighting Marginalization with Transnational Networks: Counterhegemonic
Globalization.” Contemporary Sociology. 2000 (29): 230-241. Beauchamp, Zach. Everything You Need to Know About ISIS. http://www.vox.com/cards/things-
about-isis-you-need-to-know/what-is-isis
Recommended: "Year of the Drone," see http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones
IV. Muslims vs. Islamists
Wednesday 11/05- Al Qaeda’s Methods Terrorist networks and globalization. Al Qaeda’s methods and procedures.
Required readings: Daniel Byman, “Al Qaeda's M&A Strategy.” Foreign Policy Online, December 7, 2010. Bruce Riedal, “Pakistan and Terror: The Eye of the Storm,” The Annals of The American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 618 Annals 31, July 2008. Brynjar Lia. “Doctrines for Jihadi Terrorist Training.” Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 20
Issue 4 2008, 518-542.
Recommended: "The Manchester Manual," http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/aqmanual.pdf. (On LATTE).
Monday 11/10- Understanding Terrorist Innovation RESEARCH PROJECT DUE TODAYGUEST SPEAKER: Guermantes Lailari, Lt. Colonel, USAF (ret.) will speak will speak to the class about counter-terrorism and technology with special focus on hijackings and the use of an airplane as a weapon.
GUERMANTAS LAILARI is a Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) defense contractor specializing in the provision of support for Research & Development in irregular warfare. He is a former US Air Force officer working in counterterrorism and irregular warfare. He has lived and served for nine years in the Middle East and North Africa, and for another six years in Europe. He directed training and courses at the US Air Force Special Operations School and served as a US Air Force Attaché in the Middle East. Lailari holds advanced degrees in International Relations and Strategic Intelligence, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in public policy at George Mason University. He was written on the modeling of terrorism and counter-terrorism and on the Israeli-Hezbollah War and is contributing author of chapters to Influence Warfare: How Terrorists and Governments Fight to Shape Perceptions in a War of Ideas, edited by James J. F. Forest (Praeger 2009) and Hybrid Warfare and Transnational Threats, edited by William Natter et al. (CENSA 2011).
Required reading: Adam Dolnik, Understanding Terrorist Innovation. Technology, Tactics, and Global Trends.
London: Routledge, pp.36-45. SCHUGARTS ARTICLE??? William Shughart, "An Analytical History of Terrorism, 1945-
2000,” Public Choice, vol.128, no. 1, 2006, pp. 7 -39.
RECOMMENDED Andrew Blum et al., eds., “Nonstate Actors, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.” The
Forum. International Studies Review (2005) 7, pp. 133-170.
Wednesday 11/12- Social Media/Discussion of the second midterm research papers
Required:
Jarret Brachman and Alix Levine, “You Too Can Be Awlaki!” The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Winter 2011 Vol 35:1.
Recommended:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jonstone/foreign-jihadi-fighters-in-iraq-and-syria-keep-tweeting-pict http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/7-photos-of-syrian-rebels-hanging-out-with-cats
Monday 11/17- From the Arab Spring to the “Islamic State” in Syria and IraqThe “Arab Spring” in 2011 was thought to be a repudiation of extremist Islamism and a setback for the Jihadists. What went wrong? Does instability in the Middle East inevitably benefit Al Qaeda?
Required readings: Nelly Lahoud, " Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt: A Blow to the Jihadist Narrative" CTC
Sentinel, vol. 4, (2) February 2011. Abu Yahya al-Libi, “To Our People in Libya,” Al-Sahab Media. Zelin, Aaron. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has a Consumer Protection Service.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/the-isis-guide-to-building-an-islamic-state/372769/
Recommended: Ayman al-Zawahiri’s letter to Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/CTC-Zawahiri-Letter-10-05.pdf
Scott Helfstein et al. "Deadly Vanguards: A Study of al Qa’ida’s Violence Against Muslims," Combatting Terrorism Center. Occasional Paper Series, December 2009.
Wednesday 11/19- Jihadism OnlineThe origins of Islamist thinking in modern political philosophy. Extremist Islamists rely on scripture but how important is the Koran to their program? The media has changed but the message has not. The Twitter streams are implementing the techniques used by commercials to convey both a direct and a subconscious message. The direct message echoes Abdullah Azzam’s injunction that Jihad was not fard kifaya (collective duty), which was the conventional wisdom at the time, but was fard ayn (individual duty) that all Muslims must perform.
Required readings: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Democracy: A religion. (n.d) Egyptian Islamic Jihad. "Loyalty and the Judgment of the Tyrants' Helpers"
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/CTC-LoyaltyAndTheJudgmentOfTheTyrantsHelpers_Trans.pdf
First half of Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror by Mary Habeck.
Recommended: Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, Maktabah Booksellers and Publishers: 2006, p. 23 (excerpt).
Monday 11/24- Jihadist Culture: “Call of Duty” in Real-LifeThe Jihadist movement recruits through the creation of its own culture of violent videos, nasheeds (non-instrumental hymns) and the glorification of martyrdom. The new social media environment is a dream come true for the extremist recruiter: direct contact to a potentially unlimited audience. The shift to online recruitment, however, also creates new vulnerabilities for the extremists.
Required readings: Behnam Said, “Hymns (Nasheeds): A Contribution to the Study of the Jihadist Culture”, in
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 35 (2012), pp. 863-879. John Curtis Amble, “Combating Terrorism in the New Media Environment,” Studies in Conflict
& Terrorism, 35 (2012), pp. 339-353,
Second half of Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror by Mary Habeck.
Recommended: Anwar Awlaki "Do Not Consult Anyone When Killing Americans." Al-Sahab Media. http://www.flashpoint-intel.com/images/documents/pdf/1010/flashpoint_awlaki1110.pdf
December
Monday 12/01- The Next Generation: The Syrian Foreign Fighters Who joins Al Qaeda today? Social media recruitment and Facebook proselytizing today link suburban Westerners to insurgencies in North Africa and Asia, producing a markedly different global movement than the Al Qaeda built by Bin Laden. How dangerous are the Al Qaeda-inspired successor groups?
Required: To be determinedRecommended: To be determined
V. How 9/11 Changed Your Life
Wednesday 12/03- The Costs of the Fight How do we tally the costs of fighting terrorism? Is there a point where the pursuit of security becomes too costly? What if the means to protect core values jeopardize those same values?
Required readings: Russell Hardin, “Civil Liberties in the Era of Mass Terrorism.” The Journal of Ethics, Volume 8,
Number 1, March 2004, pp. 77-95. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” Foreign Policy Online November 23,
2010. Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, “The three trillion dollar war.” NY Times Online, February 23,
2008.
Recommended: TBA
Monday 12/08- Last day of class- Overview, Q&A
